The government's 100-day job scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), saw an increase in workers and job cards in 2024-25 over the previous year but actual job creation declined, a private study suggests.
According to the study — The Missing Work: A National Review of MGNREGA Implementation (FY 2024–25) — by the research organisation LibTech India, the scheme saw a net addition of 1.16 crore job cards and 1.31 crore workers in 2024-25.
The report released on Monday found that the scheme witnessed a net deletion of 5.9 crore NREGA workers and 2.1 crore families across the country in the previous two financial years.
“For the first time since FY 2022-23, this trend was reversed in FY 2024-25 where more job cards and workers were added than deleted,” the report said.
Although many deleted workers were reinstated, it did not translate into improved work opportunities as there was a significant drop in all employment indicators, according to the report.
The persondays of work generated dropped from 289 crore in 2023-24 to 268 crore in 2024-25. The average days of employment per household fell from 52 to 50 in this period, the report said.
Economist Sunil Ray, former director of the AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, said dependence on the NREGA would not decline in the years to come since sustainable and dignified income remained far from being achieved.
“Rural distress is increasing. The net addition of 1.16 crore job cards and 1.31 crore rural workers suggests these people are in distress,” Ray said.
“Increasing demand for MGNREGA work should have been the last choice. However, it is now the first choice of deprived people in rural India. It is because there is a development deficit which is gnawing away at the vitality of the rural economy. About 40 to 45 per cent of the people are still clinging on to agriculture. There is tremendous disguised unemployment in agriculture,” he added.